“As a reminder, the booking fee is always included in the fare you see before you request,” reads an Uber message to its users. “Booking fees support rider and driver safety initiatives, as well as other operational costs.”

This news organization has reached out to Uber seeking additional information.

With the reopening of the Helena Street bridge, work will begin on replacing the nearby Keowee Street bridge over the Great Miami River. The Keowee Street bridge, which will close Monday, is providing a detour route for the Helena Street bridge through this week.

The hospital system will contribute $80,000 each year for five years toward the Gem City Market, a grocery opening in 2019 on Salem Avenue just across the Great Miami River from downtown.

“This is a huge step forward for us not just in terms of the gift, but in partnership with an organization like Premier,” said Lela Klein, executive director Greater Dayton Union Co-op Initiative, the group raising money to get the market built.

Mary Boosalis, Premier’s president and CEO, was joined by former ambassador Tony Hall presenting a check to Gem City Market officials. Hall, also the region’s former Democratic congressman, served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agency for Food and Agriculture and returned to Dayton to start The Hall Hunger Initiative in 2015. The initiative is a partnership with the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area to collaborate with community stakeholders to reduce food insecurity.

The ability to shop for affordable, nutritious food in a vast area of Dayton was already a struggle for many residents long before a fire destroyed an East Dayton store in November and an international grocery chain announced this month it was leaving Westown Shopping Center on the other side of the city, said organizers.

Organizers formed the Greater Dayton Union Co-op Initiative in 2015 to help alleviate an area food desert and bring sustainable jobs to the area.

The area that will be served by for the Gem City Market is considered a “food desert” based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition where more than 40 percent of the population lives more than a mile from a supermarket and has an income at 200 percent of the federal poverty line or lower.

KITTY NEWS: Fairborn getting its very own cat cafe

Fairborn City Manager Rob Anderson recently announced the StreetCats cat cafe. The initiative is design to help address the city's stray and homeless cat issues. Photo: The City of Fairborn.(Photo: The City of Fairborn.)

Photo: The City of Fairborn.

— Fairborn will soon have something to purrrr about.

StreetCats, a volunteer-driven organization, is planning to open a “cat cafe” at 14 N. Third St. in downtown Fairborn.

“It is not only a fun thing, but also a very important thing we are trying to do,” Anderson said in the video. “Fairborn is getting creative.”

The cat cafe is set to open in January with the hope to expand to a larger space in the future.

In addition to cats, there will be art classes, yoga and free WiFi, plus coffee and baked goods.

Anderson said the cat cafe is a way to address the city’s on-going issues with homeless and stray cats in a humane way.

The organization will help find new homes for displaced house cats and offer services that will allow cats to be dropped off to be neutered and released, said Anderson, a self-proclaimed “cat person.”

“StreetCats aims to become a lightning rod for change, a clearinghouse for information and a creative place to connect interested community members,” an email to this news organization from Anderson said.

StreetCats will be housed in city-owned property near that city’s kitchen incubator and a co-working space in the former site of Roush's Restaurant.

The initiative has the support of a number of animal groups, Elisabeth Fitzhugh of Blue’s Mews Siamese Cat Rescues told this news organization.

Fairborn City Manager Rob Anderson recently announced the StreetCats cat cafe. The initiative is design to help address the city's stray and homeless cat issues. Photo: The City of Fairborn.(Photo: The City of Fairborn.)

Photo: The City of Fairborn.

The story of the sisters who created the famous Dayton Ballet

Today’s Dayton Ballet took its first steps when two sisters pushed aside their living room furniture to make room for young performers. As young girls, Josephine Schwarz and her older sister Hermene, were first mesmerized by during Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova’s performance at Memorial Hall in 1910.

— Today’s Dayton Ballet took its first steps when two sisters pushed aside their living room furniture to make room for young performers.

Josephine Schwarz and her older sister, Hermene, first mesmerized by dance in 1910, went on to found what would become the Dayton Ballet School and the Dayton Ballet.

Here are 3 things to know about the sisters:

Josephine (left) and Hermene Schwarz were first mesmerized by dance as small children when they saw Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's perform at Memorial Hall in 1910. DAYTON DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE

1. A sickly child. At age 8, a case of mumps left Josephine bed ridden and fragile. To rebuild her strength and balance, she was enrolled in a local dance academy.

2. Home schooling. The siblings co-founded the Schwarz School of Dance in their home in 1927. The Schwarz School would later become the Dayton Ballet School. Josephine taught dance along with Hermene, who also designed costumes and built scenery.

3. Influence lives on. The sisters opened their classes to black students at a time when much of the country was segregated. One of their students, Jeraldyne Blunden, went on to found the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.

Hermene and Josephine Schwarz look over a costume in a photograph taken in 1962. DAYTON DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE